


Shattered

by Accidie



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Arkham Asylum, Can be read as both gen and Nyggmobblepot, Gen, Hurt!Ed, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, It's just Oswald plotting revenge, It's just talks of it, Like Heavily Implied, M/M, Protective Oswald Cobblepot, Talk of torture, but no actual rape occurs in the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 23:43:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13775121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accidie/pseuds/Accidie
Summary: "Oswald, there is something I need to tell you. About my stay in Arkham."--In which Oswald regrets not getting Ed out of Arkham sooner.





	Shattered

_"Oswald,_ _there_ _is_ _something_  I  _need_   _to_ _tell_   _you_ _._ _About_ _my_ _stay_ _in_ _Arkham_ _."_  

Oswald knew, of course, that something had happened to his friend while imprisoned. He didn't expect anything less, he had, however, hoped that they would have gotten rid of the torture masquerading as therapy when the asylum no longer was under Hugo Strange's control. Perhaps they did, but he should have known that the hellhole that was Arkham would attract more sadistic freaks than Strange in the staff. 

He had expected Ed getting into fights with the patients and doctors. He had the habit of mouthing off and letting his ego get the better of him. He had suspected them starving him, judging on how tired and frail he looked when Oswald visited.    
   
He had not expected this, but now when he knew he couldn't unsee it. The way Ed was more skittish than ever, the way he was visibly uncomfortable when anyone got too close.  

Ed didn't say much, he didn't need to. The silence, the way he struggled with finding the words, the frailness of his voice said more than words every could.  

 _"_ _They_ _had_   _to_   _restrain_ _me_ _in the_ _f_ _irst_ _times_ _. Later I-… I just_ _let_ _them_ _do_ _what_ _they_ _wanted_ _."_  

He couldn't think of any torture that felt right to inflict on them, every single thing he thought of felt too soft.  

He wanted to hurt them. Pick out their eyes, flay and dismember them while they were still alive, pour acid over their bodies and then boil them alive. He wanted to inflict every kind of horror upon them until they begged him to kill them, until they no longer could feel anything but tremendous pain and fear... What good would it do, killing them? It would be satisfactory, sure, but the damage was already done. It wouldn't stop the nightmares waking them both from sleep every night. It wouldn't stop Ed from panicking when touched in the wrong way. The scars would still be there, hurting Ed long after he was let out of Arkham, the scars which had built a wall between him and his friend, scars that had shattered his already frail psyche. 

Killing them would be a payback, it would feel good. But it wasn't his revenge to take 

The regret of not getting Ed out earlier from that hell burned at his inside. He should have realized, he should have cared more, been a better friend. But deep down, he knew that the vile treatment of his friend must have started early in his incarnation, that he never could have prevented Ed's suffering completely, only shortened it by a few months.  

But he should have known. He visited Ed frequently, he should have known and he did nothing to help him until he needed Ed, he let his best friend down and he could have done so much more, and now everything was ruined, the love of his life was a broken man and Oswald didn't know what to do, how to assemble the pieces again and how to forgive himself for letting Ed down, how to move past this, how to help Ed heal when he himself was damaged. Oswald knew how to rise from the ashes, how to survive, he always came out on top in the end. But he'd always done it alone, and he had always been more of a warrior than a healer.

 

 

 

  

 _"_ _They_ _made_ _me_ _feel_ _weak_ _._ _I've_ _never felt_ _so_ _powerless_. _"_  

**Author's Note:**

> please leave comments if you liked or disliked it! Do you want to see more of this AU? Another angsty!Ed-prompt?


End file.
